March 14
For the Lebanese political coalition, see March 14 Alliance. Events *1489 - The Queen of Cyprus, Catherine Cornaro, sells her kingdom to Venice. *1590 - Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots defeat the forces of the Catholic League under the Duc de Mayenne during the French Wars of Religion. *1647 - Thirty Years' War: Bavaria, Cologne, France and Sweden sign the Truce of Ulm. *1757 - On-board the HMS Monarch, Admiral John Byng is executed by firing squad for neglecting his duty. *1794 - Eli Whitney is granted a patent for the cotton gin. *1869 - Defeat of Titokowaru. *1889 - German Ferdinand von Zeppelin patents his "Navigable Balloon" *1900 - The Gold Standard Act is ratified, placing United States currency on the gold standard. *1903 - The Hay-Herran Treaty, granting the United States the right to build the Panama Canal, is ratified by the United States Senate. The Colombian Senate would later reject the treaty. *1910 - Lakeview Gusher, the largest U.S. oil well gusher near Bakersfield, California, vented to atmosphere. *1915 - World War I: Cornered off the coast of Chile by the Royal Navy after fleeing the disastrous Battle of the Falkland Islands, the German light cruiser [[Wikipedia:SMS Dresden (1907)|SMS Dresden]] is abandoned and scuttled by her crew. *1926 - Río Virilla, Costa Rica: the fall of a train in the Río Virilla killed 248 and injured 93 victims. *1939 - German troops fully occupy the Czechoslovak provinces of Bohemia and Moravia. *1942 - John Bumstead and Orvan Hess became the first in the world to successfully treat a patient, Anne Miller, using penicillin. *1943 - World War II - The Kraków Ghetto is 'liquidated'. *1951 - Korean War: For the second time, United Nations troops recapture Seoul. *1964 - A jury in Dallas finds Jack Ruby guilty of killing Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin of John F. Kennedy. *1967 - The body of President John F. Kennedy is moved to a permanent burial place at Arlington National Cemetery. *1978 - The Israeli Defense Force, invades and occupies southern Lebanon, in Operation Litani *1979 - In China, a Hawker Siddeley Trident crashes into a factory near Beijing, killing at least 200. *1980 - In Poland, a plane crashes during an emergency landing near Warsaw, killing 87 people, including a 14-man American boxing team. *1984 - Gerry Adams, head of Sinn Féin, is seriously wounded in an assassination attempt in central Belfast. *1994 - Timeline of Linux development: Linux kernel version 1.0.0 is released. *1995 - Manned space mission: Astronaut Norman Thagard becomes the first American astronaut to ride to space on-board a Russian launch vehicle. *1997 - The Chinese city of Chongqing (formerly Chunking) is upgraded to a centrally administered municipality. *1998 - An earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale hits southeastern Iran. *2004 - Vladimir Putin is re-elected president of Russia, while the PSOE wins elections in Spain just days after terrorist attacks in Madrid. *2005 - Cedar Revolution, where one million Lebanese went into the streets of Beirut to demonstrate against the Syrian military presence in Lebanon, and against the government, following the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. *2007 - In India, 15 people were killed when police open fired on protesters at Singur, Nandigram in West Bengal. The farmers were protesting against the forceful acquisition of agricultural land by the government for setting up factories in collaboration with Tata Motors. Births *1638 - Johann Georg Gichtel, German mystic (d. 1710) *1681 - Georg Philipp Telemann, German composer (d. 1767) *1790 - Ludwig Emil Grimm, German painter and engraver (d. 1863) *1804 - Johann Strauß, Sr., Austrian composer (d. 1849) *1807 - Josephine of Leuchtenberg, queen of Sweden and Norway (d. 1876) *1813 - Joseph Philo Bradley, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1892) *1822 - Teresa of the Two Sicilies, Empress of Brazil (d. 1889 *1823 - Théodore de Banville, French writer (d. 1891) *1835 - Giovanni Schiaparelli, Italian astronomer (d. 1910) *1844 - King Umberto I of Italy (d. 1900) *1853 - Ferdinand Hodler, Swiss painter (d. 1918) *1854 - Paul Ehrlich, German scientist, Nobel laureate (d. 1915) * 1854 - Alexandru Macedonski, Romanian writer (d. 1920) * 1854 - John Lane, British publisher (d. 1925) *1862 - Vilhelm Bjerknes, Norwegian physicist (d. 1961) *1863 - Casey Jones, American railroad engineer (d. 1900) *1866 - Alexey Troitsky, Russian chess problemist (d. 1942) *1869 - Algernon Blackwood, British writer (d. 1951) *1879 - Albert Einstein, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955) *1880 - Princess Thyra, daughter of Frederick VIII of Denmark (d. 1945) *1882 - Waclaw Sierpinski, Polish mathematician (d. 1969) *1885 - Raoul Lufbery, American World War I pilot (d. 1918) *1886 - Firmin Lambot, Belgian cyclist (d. 1964) *1887 - Sylvia Beach, American publisher (d. 1962) *1887 - Charles Reisner, American silent actor and film director (d. 1962) *1888 - Marc-Aurèle Fortin, Quebec painter (d. 1970) *1894 - Osa Johnson, American explorer (d. 1953) *1898 - Arnold Chikobava, Georgian linguist (d. 1985) *1899 - K.C. Irving, Canadian industrialist (d. 1992) *1903 - Mustafa Barzani, Kurdish politician (d. 1979) * 1903 - Adolph Gottlieb American painter (d. 1974) *1904 - Doris Eaton Travis, American actress, Ziegfeld girl *1905 - Raymond Aron, French philosopher (d. 1983) *1912 - Les Brown, American bandleader (d. 2001) * 1912 - Charles Van Acker, Belgian racing driver (d. 1998) *1914 - Lee Elhardt Hays, American folksinger (d. 1981) * 1914 - Bill Owen, British actor (d. 1999) * 1914 - Lee Petty, American race car driver (d. 2000) *1915 - Alexander Brott, Canadian conductor and composer (d. 2005) *1916 - Horton Foote, American author, playwright and screenwriter *1918 - Dennis Patrick, American actor (d. 2002) *1920 - Hank Ketcham, American cartoonist (d. 2001) *1922 - Les Baxter, American musician and composer (d. 1996) *1923 - Diane Arbus, American photographer (d. 1971) *1925 - William Clay Ford, American owner of the Detroit Lions * 1925 - Francis A. Marzen, American Catholic prelate (d. 2004) *1928 - Frank Borman, American astronaut and CEO *1931 - Phil Phillips, American singer and songwriter *1932 - Naina Yeltsina, Russia's first First Lady *1933 - Sir Michael Caine, British actor * 1933 - René Felber, former member of the Swiss Federal Council * 1933 - Quincy Jones, American musician and composer *1934 - Eugene Cernan, American astronaut * 1934 - Paul Rader, the 15th General of The Salvation Army *1936 - Bob Charles, New Zealand golfer *1939 - Raymond J. Barry, American actor * 1939 - Bertrand Blier, French film director and screenwriter * 1939 - Stavros Xarhakos, Greek composer *1941 - Wolfgang Petersen, German director *1942 - Rita Tushingham, British actress *1943 - Anita Morris, American actress (d. 1994) *1945 - Jasper Carrott, British comedian * 1945 - Walter Parazaider, American saxophonist Chicago *1946 - Steve Kanaly, American actor *1947 - Pam Ayres, British poet * 1947 - William J. Jefferson, American politician *1948 - Billy Crystal, American actor and comedian *1950 - Rick Dees, American disc jockey *1951 - Jerry Greenfield, American co-founder of Ben & Jerry's ice cream *1956 - Jonathan Bowen, British computer scientist *1957 - Andrew Robinson, British author *1958 - Albert II *1959 - Tamara Tunie, American actress *1960 - Kirby Puckett, American baseball player (d. 2006) *1961 - Greg Anderson, American NHRA driver * 1961 - Penny Johnson Jerald, American actress * 1961 - Hiro Matsushita, Japanese racing driver *1963 - Bruce Reid, Australian cricketer *1965 - James Kevin Brown, American baseball player * 1965 - Catherine Dent, American actress * 1965 - Aamir Khan, Indian actor * 1965 - Kiana Tom, American fitness guru and model * 1965 - Kevin Williamson, American screenwriter *1968 - Megan Follows, Canadian actress *1969 - Larry Johnson, American basketball player *1970 - Ebru Kavaklıoğlu, Russian athlete * 1970 - Meredith Salenger, American actress *1974 - Patrick Traverse, Canadian ice hockey player *1975 - Stephen Harper, British/English footballer * 1975 - Johan Paulik (aka Daniel Ferenčík), Slovak porn star * 1975 - Wendy Rice, American actress *1976 - Merlin Santana, American actor (d. 2002) *1977 - Aki Hoshino, Japanese model *1978 - Pieter van den Hoogenband, Dutch swimmer *1979 - Nicolas Anelka, French footballer * 1979 - Chris Klein, American actor * 1979 - Love, Angolan footballer * 1979 - Sead Ramović, German-born Bosnian footballer *1980 - Aaron Brown, British/English footballer * 1980 - Matteo Grassotto, Italian racing driver * 1980 - Ben Herring, New Zealand rugby union footballer * 1980 - Mercedes McNab, Canadian-born actress *1981 - Bobby Jenks, American baseball player * 1981 - Mei-Ting Sun, Chinese-born pianist *1983 - Bakhtiyar Artayev, Kazakh boxer * 1983 - Taylor Hanson, American musician, member of Hanson *1985 - Eva Angelina, American porn star * 1985 - Idaira, Spanish singer *1986 - Jamie Bell, British actor * 1986 - Elton Chigumbura, Zimbabwean cricketer * 1986 - Andy Taylor, British/English footballer *2007 - Simeon Hassan Muñoz, grandson of Simeon II of Bulgaria Deaths * 752 - Pope Zachary * 968 - Matilda of Ringelheim, German Queen *1457 - Jingtai Emperor of China (b. 1428) *1471 - Sir Thomas Malory, English author (b. 1405) *1647 - Frederick Henry (b. 1584) *1648 - Ferdinando Fairfax, English general (b. 1584) *1680 - René Le Bossu, French critic (b. 1631) *1682 - Jacob Isaakszoon van Ruysdael, Dutch painter (b. 1628) *1696 - Jean Domat, French jurist (b. 1625) *1698 - Claes Rålamb, Swedish statesman (b. 1622) *1748 - George Wade, British military leader (b. 1673) *1757 - John Byng, British admiral (executed) (b. 1704) *1791 - Johann Salomo Semler, German historian and Bible commentator (b. 1725) *1803 - Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, German writer (b. 1724) *1805 - Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki, Russian general (b. 1753) *1811 - Augustus FitzRoy, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1735) *1823 - Charles François Dumouriez, French general (b. 1739) *1883 - Karl Marx, German political theorist (b. 1818) *1884 - Quintino Sella, Italian statesman (b. 1827) *1932 - George Eastman, American inventor, and founder of Eastman Kodak (b. 1854) *1946 - Werner von Blomberg, field marshal (b. 1878) *1949 - John Callan O'Laughlin, American political and military figure and journalist (b. 1873) *1957 - Evagoras Pallikarides, Cypriot freedom fighter (b. 1938) *1973 - Howard Aiken, American engineer (b. 1900) * 1973 - Rafael Godoy, Colombian composer (b. 1907) * 1973 - Chic Young, American cartoonist (b. 1901) *1975 - Susan Hayward, American actress (b. 1917) *1976 - Busby Berkeley, American choreographer and director (b. 1895) *1977 - Fannie Lou Hamer, American civil rights activist (b. 1917) *1980 - Mohammad Hatta, Indonesian politician (b. 1902) *1983 - Maurice Ronet, French film actor (b. 1927) *1989 - Edward Abbey, American author and environmental activist (b. 1927) *1991 - Howard Ashman, American lyricist and playwright (b. 1950) * 1991 - Doc Pomus, American composer (b. 1925) * 1991 - Margery Sharp, children's author (b. 1905) *1992 - Jean Poiret, French actor, director and screenwriter (b. 1926) *1995 - William Alfred Fowler, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1911) *1997 - Fred Zinnemann, Austrian-born director (b. 1907) *1999 - Kirk Alyn, American actor (b. 1910) *2002 - Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher (b. 1900) * 2002 - Cherry Wilder, New Zealand-born author (b. 1930) *2003 - Jack Goldstein, Canadian-born artist (b. 1945) * 2003 - Jean-Luc Lagardère, French publisher (b. 1928) *2006 - Lennart Meri, former president of Estonia (b. 1929) *2007 - Lucie Aubrac, French history teacher and member of the French Resistance (b. 1912) * 2007 - Gareth Hunt, English actor (b. 1943) Holidays and observances *Albania - Summer Day: Albanian holiday Summer is celebrated in this day in Elbasan and its surroundings. *Japan and Korea - White Day: Japanese holiday similar to Valentine's Day (men give gifts to women). *Roman Empire - Equirria, horse races in honor of Mars were held. *Worldwide - Pi Day, a "celebration" of the constant number 3.14. *Estonia - Estonian language day (in Estonian: Emakeelepäev) Liturgical feasts *Saint Mathilda *Saint Paulina External links * BBC: On This Day * * On This Day in Canada ---- Category:March